Photo by Waverley Vesely
(Left to right) Top Row: Aidan Ballard, Christopher Shaw, John Webb, David De Hoyos, M.A. Keller; Second Row: Gabby Giannone, Corinne Bogden, Lauren Patrick, Ashleigh Nail; Third Row: Destiny Price, Ashley Barnhill, Ayana Jones, Dina Folgia, RJ Ruotolo; Fourth Row: Mary Flinn, Waverley Vesely, Rebecca Poynor, Danielle Kotrla
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Managing Editors “Lead Associates” prior to 2021 |
|
| Waverley Vesely | 2022–2023 | |
| Rebecca Poynor | 2021–2022 | |
| Hayley Graffunder | 2020–2021 | |
| Caitlin Wilson | 2019–2020 | |
| Katherine M. Brooks | 2018–2019 | |
| Brandie Gray | 2017–2018 | |
| Victoria C. Flanagan | 2016–2017 | |
| Jake Branigan | 2015–2016 | |
| Chelsea Gillenwater | 2014–2015 | |
| Leia Darwish | 2013–2014 | |
| Lena Moses-Schmitt | 2012–2013 | |
| Ross Losapio | 2011–2012 | |
| Emilia Phillips | 2010–2011 | |
| Grant White | 2009–2010 | |
| Matthew Baker | 2008–2009 | |
| Tarfia Faizulla | 2007–2008 | |
| Kate Beles | 2006–2007 | |
| Anna Journey | 2005–2006 | |
| Steven Collis | 2004–2005 | |
| Maria Hagan | 2003–2004 | |
| Tara Moyle | 2002–2003 | |
| Jamye Shelleby | 2001–2002 | |
Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts, founded in 2001 as a joint venture of the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of English and the former New Virginia Review, Inc., benefits from the contributions of graduate and undergraduate student interns, as well as from MA and MFA Graduate Assistants from the VCU Department of English. Students from the interdisciplinary PhD program in Media, Art, and Text (MATX) have also worked with us in past years, as have community volunteers and MFA alumni. We are grateful for everyone’s contributions.
Each year, Blackbird awards the coveted managing editor position, previously titled lead associate editor until the 2020–2021 academic year, to a second-year VCU MFA graduate student; to qualify, the student must already have been awarded a graduate fellowship and must have worked as an intern for the journal.
The managing editor staffs the Blackbird office in the historic Anderson House, and is at the center of all the journal’s activities, working to coordinate communication between literary and production editors, as well as between the editors and contributors.
Staff listings are by categories.
EDITORS
Mary Flinn, founding editor, began her tenure as the director of the New Virginia Review, Inc. in 1985. She is coeditor, with George Garrett, of Elvis in Oz: New Stories and Poems from the Hollins Creative Writing Program (University of Virginia Press, 1992), and facilitated the editing of The Gazer Within (University of Michigan Press, 2001), a collection of essays by Larry Levis. Flinn served as the poetry and fiction editor of 64 and the editor of New Virginia Review. She has participated on editors’ panels, served as a literature fellowship judge for numerous arts councils, and been a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. She was the inaugural recipient of the Theresa Pollak Award for Words from Richmond Magazine, and Style Weekly recognized her as one of their 2016 Richmond Women in the Arts.
Waverley Vesely, managing editor, is a second-year MFA student in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Their poetry has appeared in Grub Street Literary Review. They hold an MA in creative writing from the University of North Texas and a BA in English from Towson University.
Rebecca Poynor, managing editor emerita, lead copy editor, lead reading group facilitator, and lead social media editor, is a third-year MFA student in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Atlanta Review, Carve, Chestnut Review, Nashville Review, New York Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds a BA in English from Mississippi State University with minors in creative writing and linguistics.
Danielle Kotrla, lead pagebuilder, holds an MFA in poetry from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the recipient of the 2022 Catherine and Joan Byrne Poetry Prize, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, and her work appears in The Pinch, Moon City Review, and elsewhere. She is a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Georgia.
Hayley Graffunder, contributing managing editor emerita, holds an MFA in poetry from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, The Cincinnati Review, Occulum, RHINO, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2020 Catherine and Joan Byrne Poetry Prize, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, and the 2018 Lon Otto Prize for poetry. She earned a BA in English with minors in creative writing and linguistics from the University of St. Thomas, where she served as coeditor of the Summit Avenue Review.
M.A. Keller, online and founding editor, is a technologist, web coordinator, and writing instructor for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of English. His poetry has appeared in New Virginia Review, Runes, The Southern Review, and mosty recently in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IX: Virginia (Texas A&M U Press, 2022). He has created historical suites in Blackbird’s Gallery, including a four-part 1918 influenza suite of researched and republished material. Keller has taught workshops in poetry and advanced writing, and courses in hypertext and new media. His work centers on issues related to electronic publishing, including materiality, multimodal writing and design, and questions regarding durability of digital archives. Recent teaching and research interests center on the transmission of error in print and digital formats, as well as lay and professional attitudes toward error.
Gregory Donovan, founding editor, is the author of the poetry collections Torn from the Sun (Red Hen Press, 2015), longlisted for the Julie Suk Award, and Calling His Children Home (University of Missouri Press, 1993), winner of the Devins Award for Poetry. He is the coeditor (with Michele Poulos) of Prismatics: Larry Levis & Contemporary American Poetry (Diode Editions, 2020). His poetry, essays, translations, and fiction have been published in the Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, New England Review, TriQuarterly, diode, and many other journals. His work has also appeared in several anthologies, including Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets of Virginia (University of Virginia Press, 2003). Among other awards for his writing, he is the recipient of the Robert Penn Warren Award from New England Writers as well as grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and fellowships from the Ucross Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Donovan is a founding faculty member of Virginia Commonwealth University’s graduate creative writing program.
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Kayleigh Dumont, bios editor and copy editor, is a fourth-year MA English student at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned her BA in English with minors in creative writing and psychology. She interned at Blackbird in 2016 and will graduate in the spring of 2023.
Dina Folgia, literary intern, copy editor, and assistant social media editor, is a first-year MFA student in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her poetry can be found in Dunes Review, Kissing Dynamite Poetry, Ninth Letter, Variant Lit, and elsewhere. She holds a BA in writing arts from Rowan University.
Caroline Richards, literary intern and copy editor, is a first-year MFA student in poetry at Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds a BA in English and anthropology from Trinity College, Hartford, where she worked as poetry editor for the Trinity Literary Magazine.
Christopher Shaw, literary intern and copy editor, is a first-year MFA fiction and nonfiction student at Virginia Commonwealth University. His work has appeared in The Santa Ana River Review, Press Pause Press, and The Matador Review. He holds a BA in English, a BFA in creative writing, and an MA in English from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
INTERNS
Aidan Ballard, literary intern and copy editor, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She studies history and creative writing and will graduate in the spring of 2024.
Ashley Barnhill, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University pursuing a BA in English with a creative writing minor. She has worked as a staff member for Symposium, West Springfield High School’s literary and art magazine. She is a staff member for Amendment, a student-run literary and art journal. She will graduate in the spring of 2023.
Corinne Bogden, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BA in English and a minor in art history.
Faith Centa, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BA in English and a minor in professional writing and editing.
David De Hoyos, literary intern, pagebuilder, and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. He will graduate with a BA in English in the fall of 2022.
Gabby Giannone, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the fall of 2022 with a BA in English.
Ayana Jones, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BA in English and a minor in professional writing and editing.
Shea Lawson, literary intern and copy editor, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in 2023 with a BA in English and a minor in creative writing.
Ashleigh Nail, literary intern and copy editor, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BA in English and a minor in professional writing and editing.
Lauren Patrick, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BA in interdisciplinary studies. Her focus areas are creative practices, creative writing, and professional writing and editing.
Peter Powers, literary intern and pagebuilder, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. He will graduate in the fall of 2023 with a BA in English.
RJ Ruotolo, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. They will graduate in the fall of 2022 with a BA in English and a minor in creative writing.
John Webb, literary intern and copy editor, is a senior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a graduate of the Distinguished Majors Program, and his short stories “Helens” and “Boy From China” won Virginia Commonwealth University’s Undergraduate Fiction Awards in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He works as a content writer for BroadSword Monthly. He will graduate in the fall of 2022 with a BA in English and a minor in creative writing.
VOLUNTEERS
Rachel Keys, audio editor and pagebuilder, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BFA in kinetic imaging and a minor in creative writing.
Destiny Price, assistant copy editor, is a junior undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a BA in English and a BS in psychology.
B. Luke Wilson, reader and reading group leader, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2021 with a BA in English. His work has appeared in East by Northeast, the Virginia Writers Club, and elsewhere. He won the 2020 Blue Nib Contest for Fiction with the Blue Ridge Writers.
& MANY THANKS
to all the editors, staff members, interns, and volunteers who made Blackbird, volume 21, number 2 possible.
Special thanks to Waverley Vesely, our managing editor, for keeping us all focused on this big effort, and for bringing the work of the contributors and the Blackbird team to fruition.
Thanks to Rebecca Poynor for her efforts as managing editor emerita, for leading our reading group with critical attention, incisive direction, and methodical care, and for always taking it upon herself to ensure our innumerable tasks were completed. And for always being so elegantly fashionable.
Thanks to Danielle Kotrla for her dedicated work and generosity. For leading the pagebuilding team with persistence, jocularity, and for dedicating much time and energy to building this volume. To Rebecca Poynor for directing our copyediting team with adeptness, steadfastness, and passion.
Thanks to Kayleigh Dumont for her hard work editing bios.
Thanks to Rebecca Poynor and Dina Folgia for their labor to maintain our social media pages.
Thanks to Mary Flinn for her many years of commitment to the literary community, continued support of our editorial staff, and substantial contributions to in-house copy.
Thanks to M.A. Keller for supporting our quality and efficacy, and for his extensive effort on Blackbird’s gallery and features.
Thanks to the browse menu team, Christopher Shaw, Dina Folgia, Ashley Barnhill, Ashleigh Nail, and Faith Centa, for assisting with the task of creating a thematically engaging reading order for the issue’s content.
Thanks to pageuiders Peter Powers and David De Hoyos for their research and discussion around R.U.R. We are still making discoveries at publication and have more materials than we can process by deadline! David also stepped in to do transcription for an upcoming feature—much appreciated.
Special gratitude to Rachel Keys whose expert and focused effort is the only reason we have audio in this issue’s Levis Remembered..
And to all others—manuscript readers, pagebuilders, transcribers, and copy editors—our sincere appreciation. Your dedication, ingenuity, and good spirits make it all possible. 
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